<USS Avalon> "Surprising Encounter"

"Surprising Encounter"
By Lieutenant First Class Elissabeth Marksbury
 
 
She went back to James' place and re-packed her things.  He still wasn't back.  
Instead, Lissi left him a note on his console.
 
I'm sorry, James.  I'm going to do a little thinking.  Don't worry - I'll 
return in a day or two.  Love you.
 
Sighing, she shouldered her pack and left, not having a clue where to go.  She 
just started walking, wondering where her feet would take her.  By late 
afternoon she found herself stepping along the sandy shore.  There was a large 
rock standing as lone sentinel and she sat down, back against it.  The stone 
was still heated from the noon-day sun and felt nice.
 
Lissi removed her shoes and dug her toes into the sand, staring out over the 
blue water.  The sun was just starting its decent into the horizon and a faint 
breeze played out over the water.  She closed her eyes and absorbed the smells 
and sounds around her.  Somewhere not far, someone was grilling food.  The 
scent of sizzling meats tickled her nose.  Farther down the beach there was a 
volleyball game in progress.  Their laughter and screams drifted to her ears 
and caused her to smile.  To be that carefree...
 
"Why can't ya?" A voice startled her out of her reverie.  Lissi looked up to 
see a scruffy-headed child leaning over the rock staring at her with a crooked 
grin.
 
"Pardon?"  Lissi said.
 
"I said, 'Why can't ya?'," the child rolled her eyes.  Her copper curls framed 
her face and her brown eyes communicated amused annoyance with the adult 
sitting below her.  "You were wondering why you can't be that carefree, so I 
asked 'Why can't ya?'."
 
Lissi wasn't quite sure how to answer.  It was a bit rude of the child to read 
her thoughts and invite her way into a conversation.  Yet there was something 
fascinating that the kid could be so direct.  "I'm not exactly sure," Lissi 
told her and went back to staring at the water.
 
"Seems to me," the girl said, tumbling from the top of the rock to land on her 
feet in the sand right next to Lissi, "that you're your own worst enemy.  I'm 
Kaylee and I'm ten and I'm a nuisance.  Or at least that's what everyone says," 
she laughed.
 
Lissi laughed along with her.
 
"You're really pretty when you smile," Kaylee told her.  "What's your name 
though?  You don't think of yourself in a name like most people."  The girl's 
brow furrowed as she tried to puzzle this out.
 
"Elissabeth.  Would you care to join me?" she asked a bit too late, as Kaylee 
was already sitting next to her and reaching for her pack.  "Hey now.  That's 
kind of rude," she told her mildly.
 
"I know.  But you won't mind.  You're a nice person.  I'd like to have some of 
the roasted pecans that you bought earlier."
 
"What?" Lissi was thoroughly surprised.  She hadn't had a lot of encounters 
with telepaths, but this kid was something else.  And disarming.  By all 
rights, Lissi should be angry.  Giving up, she took her pack out of Kaylee's 
hands.  "I'll get them."
 
Taking out the small bag of cinnamon treats, Lissi took a handful and handed 
the rest to Kaylee.  "Thanks," Kaylee told her munching and crunching.  "So," 
she said around a full mouth, "I still don't understand why you aren't happy."
 
"I don't either," Lissi admitted.  Lissi's thoughts were tumbling around in her 
head.  So many memories and so many feelings.
 
"Hey, slow down," Kaylee said.  "You're giving me a headache.  Ain't nobody 
ever been so jumbled before."
 
"Sorry.  Perhaps you should try not reading my mind."
 
"Haven't learned how.  I'm a real strong telepath and I can't help it.  I don't 
just read surface thoughts.  I can read all of them without hardly any 
concentration.  That's why people don't like me.  They don't say it, but they 
think it.  And I'm real smart too.  That don't help, either."
 
Lissi felt sorry for the girl.  She understood what it was like not to quite 
fit in.  The really irksome part about Lissi's 'not fitting in' was that if she 
had resisted Skyler's pleas for her to return with the Avalon into the past, 
this wouldn't be an issue.  It had been one mistake after another.  Disobeying 
orders, then coming into the past, dragging James along with her, choosing the 
memory erasure that didn't work... and the list went on.
 
Kaylee's eyes widened as she comprehended Lissi's thoughts.  Suddenly realising 
that she had been broadcasting thoughts of her future self loud and clear, 
Lissi retreated and began multiplying by two, just as she'd been taught to 
block telepaths.  Every thirteenth number was divided by five and then 
multiplied again by it's root.  Then she started with that number to multiply 
by twos.
 
"Hey, that ain't fair," Kaylee said.
 
"Neither is having my life laid out for your viewing, Kaylee.  It's dangerous."
 
"I know," the girl said.  "But I never tell.  If I told, somebody'd take me 
away."  
 
Lissi knew she was right.  However, she also knew the girl needed some sort of 
training.
 
"Yeah, I'd like to join Starfleet," Kaylee said, "but I'm too young."  After a 
moment, "No, you don't have to worry about what my parents would think.  They 
pretend I don't exist.  Scared of me.  That's right, I'm not from a family of 
telepaths.  Yes, I'm human."
 
Lissi found it very disconcerting that Kaylee answered her questions before she 
even formed them into a logical thought.
 
"Elissabeth?"
 
"Hmm?"
 
"Could you get me in?  To Starfleet?  You know some important people.  And if 
you do this for me...I'll teach you how to be a kid.  You never were one for 
real and that's sad.  We can do lots of fun stuff.  I'll show you how to build 
sandcastles...and we can eat candy 'til we're sick and show you how to swim 
and... Oh!  I'm sorry.  I didn't realise.  Wow, that was really mean of him to 
keep throwing you in the water like that.  There's better ways to teach someone 
to swim.  You almost drowned...how many times?" her brow crinkled as she 
concentrated.
 
"Kaylee stop," Lissi ordered her.  She couldn't shield the surface thoughts 
that had popped up with Kaylee's words. 
 
"I'm sorry."  She dropped her eyes, her long lashes brushing against her 
freckled cheeks.  "I don't do it on purpose.  Please don't be mad...no, 
annoyed.  You're annoyed and not so sure that talking to me is a good idea.  
Well, you're right - it ain't!"  Kaylee stood with anger in her eyes.
 
"Wait," Lissi told her and looked at her solemnly.  She wanted Kaylee to 
understand how scared and frustrated that Lissi was...and that she liked her.  
Lissi wanted to help her and had this sneaking suspicion that it would benefit 
her as well.
 
"Tomorrow?  Yeah, I can meet you here tomorrow."  That wide grin was back on 
Kaylee's face and it made Lissi smile as well.  She watched as Kaylee ran down 
the beach, turning once to wave.  Lissi waved back and her problems suddenly 
seemed less important. 
 
 
 





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